Efforts underway to prepare Pakistan Post meeting modern needs
Pakistan Post, aiming to do a complete revamp, will introduce services to cope with changing dynamics and effectively compete in modern environment. The Department is focusing on three major points of action which are launch of mobile money transfer, launch of logistic company and rebranding of Pakistan Post.
One must know that in the last decade with rise of private courier companies and their synergy with the burgeoning e-commerce industry, it has become an increasingly tough market. In addition, smart- phones, apps, emails and mobile financial services have done the remaining damage to Pakistan Post.
As per presentation given to higher authorities for revamping Pakistan Post, the first point was Mobile Money Solution for which a significant investment has been proposed for existing 3200 post offices and roughly 9,000 agents. It includes hardware, software, training of postal human resource staff, advertisement of the new product and connectivity charges. Within 2 years and hopefully a 20% market share, Pakistan Post is looking to earn up to Rs. 5 billion in revenue through the mobile money service.
The strategy pursued in this regard is that of partnership. For a slice of the revenue, Pakistan Post would be provided with an end to end solution that maintains market standards and is run by the partner. The private partner would also help the Pakistan Post to rebrand money remittance solution by providing hardware, software, training and advertisement.
The presentation further revealed local e-commerce market is currently worth around 80-100 million dollars per year and within next few years, it is expecting the number in the billions. In contrast, the courier market is worth Rs. 30 billion as per Pakistan Post's estimates. As e-commerce blossoms, so will the courier market and its piece of the pie the company is targeting.
For this purpose, Pakistan Post is aiming to launch a fully owned logistics company in partnership with private sector partners for investment on revenue sharing basis. An investment of Rs. 800 million will be made in areas including GPS enabled trucking fleet, warehouse, distribution channels, Information Technology (IT) and brand recognition.
With regard to rebranding Pakistan Post, it was revealed that a much needed do over of Pakistan Post is also part of reform agenda. It includes development of brand as a center of technology and convenience as a subsequent up gradation of facilities and appearances will follow along with preparation and adoption of medium and long term postal policies. The whole process is sought to be carried out in a transparent manner and for this purpose, expressions of interest will be invited for all three projects through PPRA site as well as national newspapers. With the new reform agenda, Pakistan Post is aiming to double its revenue to 900 million per annum in two financial years. A growth rate of 15 per cent is being targeted in succeeding three years.
The comprehensive and wide ranging reform plan just goes to show how fast the business situation in Pakistan is changing. Traditional services like postal services have been caught out with emerging e-commerce industry and new players in the market. With business as usual on a steady decline, a transformation was in order and it is going to help revive Pakistan Post and make it more competitive.